R5 Imagines

Fantasy R5 Imagine - Annika

My breathing slows as I try to concentrate all my energy into hitting my mark.  The bow is pulled taught as my arrow balances right above my left hand.  I release the arrow and stand still as it soars through the air and pierces the side of the rather large rabbit, causing it to drop instantly.  I hate killing animals if I don’t have to but a girl has to sometimes in order to survive. 

Later that night, I clean the remaining bit of meat off the last bone before tossing it into the fire.  Placing my quiver and bow next to me I stretch out on the thin bed of pine needles, thankful for the abundance of trees to hide me while I sleep.  This is the last place you want to be caught out in the open in the middle of you night by yourself.  Unless you’re me of course.  My archery skills are known all throughout the land and my hopes are that if I can complete this one last task for Lord Riker I will be able to finally leave this place.

Being an archeress fails to impress many people these days which is why I am always travelling alone.  Although my lack of cooperation and working with others may have something to do with it.

Come the first break of dawn I am on the move again, keeping to the line of the trees in case I need to dash back into hiding at a moment’s notice.  My eyes search frantically across the horizon, trying to locate the large stone cave I was set out to find. 

Finally I locate it out in the distance and in order to reach it I must cross the expansive plains.  Luckily it’s covered in dips and hills so they may help in protecting me from anything nasty that may come along, especially Minotaurs.  Those monsters are terrible creatures native to this part of the land and I don’t care what people say – they are much more bull than they are man.

I am about halfway to the cave when I hear the sound of hooves approaching me from behind.  I clutch my bow tightly and prepare myself to grab an arrow at a moment’s notice as I continue walking cautiously. 

“Whoaa,” I hear a man’s soft voice whisper as he reins in his stead.  I turn to confront him, hoping to be meeting a friend rather than a foe. 

“Why, what’s a bonnie lass like you doing out here all by yourself?” the shirtless boy asks after dismounting his snow white unicorn. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” I challenge him.  “These are dangerous parts and certainly not meant for a careless boy like yourself.”

“Careless?  I assure you, my dear, I am anything but careless,” he says, turning so I can see the sheath hanging from his hips with the hilt of the sword sticking out.   

“As am I,” I state, noticing four more horses quickly approaching. 

“Ross, how many times must I tell you we must stay together?” the young woman leading the group questions as she pulls on the reins of her speckled horse to slow him down. 

“At least once more,” Ross teases.  “I saw someone up ahead on foot and thought I should investigate.”

“Yes, but you could’ve…Anni?  Is that you?” the blonde girl is now looking in my direction.  I look at her face for the first time as well and cannot believe my eyes.      

“Rydel!  I can’t believe it!” I exclaim as she climbs down and hugs me.

"It’s been much too long,” she states and I nod eagerly in agreement.  We had grown up playing together back before her father remarried a widowed Lady.  It had then caused her and her younger brother to move far away when she was only ten years old. 

Rydel then introduced me to everyone else.  There was her brother Ryland, who has certainly turned into quite a fine young man since I last saw him.  The two boys behind her were her stepbrothers, Rocky and Ellington, and the cocky blond who first confronted me was also her stepbrother.